Arson
by FlightyMighty15
Summary: After his father gets a promotion, Silver and his family move to an island town. However, something seems wrong, an evil presence lurks on the island, and is blamed on another citizen named Blaze. Will Silver and his new friends stop it, before it's too late? SILVAZE, new story! Please R&R! T for language and violence in later chapters
1. New Place

I rolled down my window and looked out, enjoying the feeling of the June wind in my spines. Fog masked most of what was around us in a vast white field. The aroma hit me next. It was a vile scent of rotting things and salty air. My window went back up as fast as it could after I smelled that. "Do we have to live with that revolting stench all around us?" I questioned.

Our car took a turn onto a bridge. The early-morning fog was rapidly beginning to lift. Sounds of moving water made me glance back out the window. The ocean was right beneath us. Waves were lifting, falling, and rising again to an imaginary rhythm.

My name is Silver the Hedgehog. I've never seen the ocean before, but I couldn't see what a fuss everyone makes about it. My family and I had lived in the middle of the country for my whole life. The shoreline was too far away to drive to, and my mother had a severe fear of flying. But we had gotten some good luck lately. My father got a major promotion. Because of that, we were moved out of the city I grew up in and onto a barrier island. This island was known as Emerald Island. The community itself was called Seaberyl town.

My mother turned around when she heard my question. "Silver, trust me. You'll get used to it." She assured me in her usual sing-songy voice. "Wait until you see our new house. It's beautiful, right on the ocean, a very green yard with a swingset, and a patio in the backyard made of really pretty..." My mother trailed off in confusion. "Oh, you'll see it when we get there!"

The fog was already almost gone. A sign on the side of the bridge-road read "Emerald Island (Seaberyl) - ¼ mile ahead".

I could see the shoreline of the town. On this side of the island was a playground next to the beach, a few little shops, and multiple houses. As we inched closer to the landmass, I found myself having strange feelings. "This place doesn't seem safe." I murmured, hoping my parents didn't hear.

My dad, who was behind the wheel, was glancing around. "We should stop and grab some food. It's going to be a long day."

He parked the car on the side of the road in front of a convenience store. The old, rusting sign revealed the place to be called _Seaside Variety._ When we entered the store, the bell tied to the door jingled. The metallic twinkling grabbed the attention of the pink hedgehog girl behind the counter. "Hello!" She said warmly. "I hope you don't mind, but we don't open for another fifteen minutes. Sorry!" She scanned the messy area around her. "I'm a little disorganized."

"Would you like some help?" I asked. Normally, I could clean messes pretty fast, since I could just stand still and make everything go away into it's proper place. Being Psychokinetic had a few advantages, I guess.

The hedgehog nodded. "Please."

As we worked together, the store was tidy within minutes. We chatted while we worked. I learned that this girl was called Amy Rose. This was her first week working, and she was two years younger than me. Who knew you could get a job _that_ young anywhere? I was fourteen, and was going to start working somewhere in my old city this summer.

"So, are you new around here, Silver?" Amy asked.

I nodded. "Yeah. We're on our way to the new place now. We just stopped in to grab a snack."

"Do you know what the road is called? I'll know how to get there. I could tell you, if you guys needed help."

My mother was looking at the sodas in the fridge. "Do you know where Ashewood Lane is, Amy?"

The little girl thought for a second. "I _think_ it's off of Sapphire Street. That would be straight ahead until you hit the middle school, and then turn left immediately after. It's somewhere down there."

We bought our snacks and sodas, said goodbye to the helpful little hedgehog, and were off. I opened my Dr. Pepper and took a sip, the carbonation tickling my nose. All the time I was keeping my eyes out for the middle school. Would I be going there next year still, or would I be moving up to the high school? I shook my head. _I don't need to be thinking about this stuff now. Summer's barely started!_

After we took the turn, we had no difficulties finding Ashewood. As we pulled up to and stopped in front of a large, pale blue house with white trim. The entire house looked brand new, and the lawn was indeed very green. The backyard was just as my mother described: still just as green as the front yard, a granite patio, and a swingset. Many flowers were planted along our white fence.

I returned out to the front yard in time to see the moving van drive up and park. The two movers got out: A large green crocodile and a small black-and-red armadillo. They began carrying boxes and other furniture into the house. After a few trips, I followed them in. The front room had brick-red walls and a hardwood floor. Off to the left was the living room, with the same color walls and pale gray carpet. I could lay down and be easily camouflaged.

My parents came in and noticed me wandering around. "Why don't you go out and explore the town?" My dad suggested. "Go try to meet some new people."

I shrugged. "Alright. I guess I could."

As I walked out the door, I could've sworn I smelled smoke coming in on the wind. The wind itself seemed to whisper in my ear: "You have come... prepare for the fight of your life."


	2. The First Strike

I walked down the slightly-familiar streets of Seaberyl town. One earphone from my iPod was in my ear, the other one, with the speaker almost blown out, hung uselessly by my shoulder. The faulty piece every now and then made a faint sound, seemingly attempting to return to life. My song of choice, "Down in Tokyo" rang out the chorus. Suddenly the rhythm twisted with another song I couldn't identify.

Assuming it was the other headphone dying out, I kept walking. The unknown song grew louder, and now I could make out more of it. It wasn't the type of music I usually listened to, but it was... _interesting. _My mind seemed to take over, and I turned my iPod off. The working ear-bud gave off a loud crackle, and went dead. _There goes the other one, _I rolled my eyes. _Note to self, dollar-store headphones will break within three days. _

While I continued walking, the noise increased in volume, faded out, and cut off completely. A purple chameleon was leaning against a tree in the yard I was currently beside sighed. I barely heard him say "Finally! Now can we get some quiet around here for once?" He opened amber eyes and retreated into his home, grumbling another phrase.

I was still looking for the source of the song as I wandered towards the next house. In the garage with the door open, I saw a drum set, an electric guitar, a keyboard, and two microphones. This had to be where it was coming from.

Two figures sat in the grass, wearing earphones, listening to something on a laptop. One of them, a dark gray hedgehog with crimson streaks, glanced up at me and nodded a silent "Hello." His gaze returned to the computer, and he growled.

The hedgehog jumped up, and shook his head, yanking the headset from the laptop in the process. "How did you mess that up?" The other figure, just like him, but with bluish-gray markings, shook his head.

"Don't worry," His voice was so low it almost sounded like a snarl. "We can just cut it out. No more problem." Then he seemed to notice me as well and nodded in the same manner. I couldn't help noting how freaky his light green eyes looked. The smaller red guy waved me over, and then turned back to his companion.

"We can't "just cut it out." that part of the song is too important, and people would notice the skip if we did that." The hedgehog replied: "We're gonna have to redo the whole thing. Go grab Rouge and Scourge." and waved in a dismissing motion.

The blue-slashed figure hesitated, and then walked off toward the house. The smaller one did a small growl again, and turned to me. "Who are you?"

I introduced myself, including where I was from originally. In return, he said he was named Shadow; the other hedgehog was his "shade" Mephiles. As if I knew what that meant. They had been reviewing their recording of their band's song when they noticed that Mephiles had hit his part too early, creating an awkward gap in between verses. "I'm sure, deep down, he agrees with me." Shadow joked. "We have to redo the song. The tricky part will be convincing Rouge to join in."

"What do you mean by that?" Someone replied. We turned simultaneously to see a white bat with her hands on her hips, staring at Shadow with mock indignation. "Do you think that because I'm a girl, I can't record with the boys?"

Shadow laughed. "Rouge, if that were true, would we be letting Mephly in?" He directed towards Mephiles. That earned him a death glare from his friend, as if his eyes weren't creepy enough.

"Shut up, Shadow."

The final member off the band was a green hedgehog wearing a leather jacket. Apparently he had given himself the name Scourge. But he started laughing manically. "Speaking of shutting up," He pointed towards the street. "There she goes again!"

When we all turned, there was a lavender-colored cat running at her full speed down the street. She paused, looked behind her as if someone had been chasing her, and took off again. The look on the cat's face was one of terror mixed with anger. To sum it all up, she appeared to be fleeing _something_.

"What does "shutting up" have to do with her, Scourge?" I asked.

Rouge started giggling. "Because it's like she never speaks. We've been in the same school as her for years, and have never heard her talk, unless she's asked a question in class or something."

"When she does talk, she stares at the ground and refuses to make eye contact with anyone." Mephiles picked up.

Shadow blinked slowly. "Some say she has an odd power over fire. Pyrokinesis. Her name even has something to do with fire. I think it's Flame... Spark... no. It's Flare."

The green hedgehog cut Shadow off. "No, I think it's Blitz."

"Scourge, I am sure that it's Flare." Shadow growled towards his friend with narrowed ruby-red eyes.

"Oh yeah, Shadz?"

"Stop calling me that!"

Rouge jumped into the middle of the two hedgehogs before their fight could turn physical. "Guys! Really? You have to fight over something so dumb?"

"But I know that I'm right! The king is never..." Scourge spun around towards his right. "Hey, anyone else smell smoke?"

Certainly, the smell of smoke was in the air, coming from the direction the cat had come from and that Scourge had turned to. The grayish cloud rose up from a few streets away, and was blowing this way. The fragrance burned my eyes and nose, and felt like the fire was right there, although it was far in the distance.

Around me, the band members were staring in the same direction. Then Rouge bounced up and down. "Come on, let's go see!" She unfolded her wings and fluttered away, leaving Shadow, Scourge, Mephiles and I in her wake. Shadow started to follow with rocket booster shoes. That's something you don't see every day. Scourge just ran, somehow keeping up with those two. I decided to not run, but to use my levitation. I'm starting to find my abilities a lot more useful than I give them credit for.

I stopped in front of the hollow shell of a home that once stood. The band was all there, staring in wonder at the smoking remains. "Who lived here?" I found myself asking to nobody in particular. Then Shadow let out a chuckle.

"Poor little faker. Wonder what they're gonna do now?"

Scourge gazed off into the distance. "Heh, who knows? Or cares?"

As the rest of the band was talking about this "faker" guy, my mind wandered back to the cat we saw speeding down the road. She definitely seemed afraid of something. And they did say that she had abilities over fire... so could it be possible that she was responsible for this?

On the other hand, a voice deep down inside me was screaming. It yelled: "She's not responsible for this! _It _is!"


	3. Silver Fights A Chaotic Blue Blur

I jumped when I heard the voice. Yes, my instincts were shouting at me, but what they were telling me was shocking. I mean, this had to have been because of that cat girl, _right?_

But if it wasn't her, then what is the "it"?

The sound of running behind us startled me again. When the band and I turned around, another hedgehog was running towards us.

He looked like the exact opposite of Scourge, with a normal smile replacing what would've been a shady one. His quills were the cobalt-blue color of the drummer's eyes, and his eyes were the emerald shade of Scourge's spines. The newcomer's face appeared friendly, and he smiled a little bigger when he saw the group up ahead. But his voice rang out with an overdose of arrogance. "Hey Shadz, Rouge, Mephly," As he faced the green hedgehog who was his precise contrast, he added a "And hello, Scourgey!"

Shadow's eyes rolled. "Faker." Scourge nodded rapidly in agreement. Mephiles gave a small grunt of acknowledgement, but said nothing to the hedgehog.

On the other hand, Rouge smiled back in a similar tone, because apparently it seemed to aggravate her friends. "Hey, Sonic! How are you doing today? "

"I was wondering if you guys were going to show up here today! Can't say I'm surprised, though. Do you really think I'm just this cool?"

Scourge let out a loud howl of laughter. "Oh, yeah. You're _sooooo_ cool." Sarcasm dripped like syrup from his opinion. "Don't think we can say the same 'bout your house right now." Triumph flared in his gaze, and he stood in a manner that reflected it as well.

Sonic's prideful face fell slightly. "What are you talking' about? What do you..." His voice faltered when he looked beyond the band at the smoldering remains of his home. "..._mean?_"

As he stared at the smoking pieces of the building, his eyes exploded with a burst of anger. He immediately turned back towards the five of us, and walked right in front of my face. "What did you do to my house?"

"Why are you accusing me?" I growled at the blue freak. "What could I have possibly done?"

"You're not very familiar. Not coming up with any idea as to who you are."

"And how does that..."

"It _was _you! Just admit it!"

The black and red hedgehog decided that this would be a good time to try to interrupt the argument. When he got in between the both of us, he muttered in his usual grating way: "Shut up for a few seconds, faker. He's new in town. He's been here not even two hours and you're already walking all over him."

Sonic side-stepped around Shadow, and shoved me to the ground. "Look at what you've done!" His eyes were filling with tears rapidly and he spoke with a slight sob. "What if everything I owned was in there?" He approached slowly, aggressively, and drew his hands into fists.

_This guy... _I thought bitterly, _is no better than those delinquents I used to go to school with! _So using the only logic that I could find with my short-tempered attitude, I plucked him off of the ground and flung him into a nearby tree.

I know I'll be paying for that later, because it sent a little rabbit-girl running into her house crying, causing her mother to glare at us with disapproval before vanishing.

The blue hedgehog came running back in a hissing rage. "Well, if it wasn't you, then who was it?"

"It was that cat-girl!"

My back was turned towards the source of all of the running and voices behind me, but by the way Mephiles and Scourge simultaneously face-palmed, I knew that we were in for something. I turned around to see five shapes closing in on us. They were led by the purple chameleon that I saw earlier, followed by a young honey bee, a female echidna with one robotic-looking spine, and... The last two... had I seen them before? ...Yes, the crocodile and the armadillo were familiar looking indeed. They were the two moving people that helped us unload the furniture van.

Upon watching the arrival of these oddly matched five, Rouge was watching rather intently. But now her shoulders had dropped down a little bit, and she glared at the other girl. The new echidna gazed back with a scowl cold enough to freeze fire. _I'll never understand girls. _

"Who are they?" I whispered to Mephiles. He had already shown his worth as the intelligence of the band so far. But when the shade didn't answer, I dared to speak slightly louder.

The crocodile's sight snapped immediately to me. "You don't know who we are?" He asked with shock. _No, I don't. And yes, I'm new. Cut me some slack. _

A loud and high pitched voice answered the large creature. "Who doesn't know? Who doesn't know?" Apparently the squeaks belonged to the honey bee. "Vector, who doesn't know who we are? Can we tell 'em? Huh? Huh? HUH?"

"Yeah, Charmy! 'Course we're gonna tell him who we are!" The green figure, Vector, replied to his companion. "You there, ashen colored guy! Who are we?"

"I have no idea." I sighed. "Do you really expect me to know, because I just moved here...?"

The bee buzzed around a few flowers and came back upon command from the chameleon. "We're the Chaotix! We're gonna be the best detectives in the whole world! Just wait and see!"

While Charmy and Vector were ranting on about how famous they were going to become, the chameleon, armadillo, and echidna introduced themselves.

"Welcome to Seaberyl. I'm Espio." The violet reptile said quietly. "I'm the brains here, as you can see. That's Julie-Su," He pointed to the echidna. "And that's Mighty." The armadillo waved in response.

"I'm Silver the Hedgehog. Nice to meet you all."

"Hey, what's going on here?" Another shape called from the horizon. "I saw all the smoke! What happened?"

Rouge looked in that direction when she heard this particular voice and squealed. Now ignoring Julie-Su's livid facial expression, she rushed forwards.

This figure side-stepped the bat and walked over to Sonic. "She hit your house now?" I noticed that he was another echidna, red with dreadlocks and purple eyes. His gloves had spikes coming out of them, and looked like they could dish out some serious damage.

Sonic frowned. "Nope. It was him." He pointed at me with a defeated expression.

Shadow seemed about ready to slap the blue hedgehog. "Seriously, will you just shut up? Silver was just hanging out with us when we noticed the smoke."

Now Espio stepped up to my defense. "I'm a witness, here. I noticed him stop and talk to these guys."

The bat glared at the male echidna, then at Julie-Su. The Chaotix detective flashed a victorious smile at Rouge, with a meaning attached. _He's mine. Keep dreaming. _

_...I still don't get girls. _

Vector glanced over to the still steaming remains of the structure. "Let's start checking it out. Knuckles, start looking for witnesses." He ordered the newest person to show up. _Knuckles. That explains the gloves. _As he was giving out orders, I think I heard him say "Where'd Mighty get off to now?"

"I know most of the laws here, but don't you still need a permit? Last time you almost got arrested for suspicious activity around the burnt down store on the other side of town." Scourge pointed out.

Mephiles nudged his friend in a joking manner. "And you know this because you're apprehended at least once a month, Scourge."

"...Not really. More like once every three months." The emerald shaded hedgehog muttered indignantly."

Shadow growled. "Just don't use me for a witness. I was at my house with these four." He motioned to include Mephiles, Scourge, Rouge, and I. "We were doing some band practice."

Knuckles nodded to Shadow. "You guys are good for now. But if we don't find anything, we will come back to ask you all some questions."

The band started to head back towards Shadow's place. "You coming, Silver?"

I jumped. "Nah, I'm going to look around some more. See you later." Turning, I began to walk down an empty road. The only life seemed to be coming from the setting sun, which made my spines change to a neat shade of orange. _Heh, just like Bentley. _

"Hey."

Again, I jumped at least twenty feet out of my own skin. Whirling around, my eyes were narrowed and my teeth bared, ready to meet anyone ready to mug me. Then I remembered I wasn't in the city anymore. But still. Can't hurt to be ready for that scenario.

Turns out nobody was about to rob me. It was Mighty, one of the Chaotix. "Silver. Need any help getting home?"

"No, I can find my way." And I realized just how lost I was. "Okay, I guess I do need help. Thanks."

We started walking down the road. I was hit with another blast of ghastly ocean fragrance. However, the sunset reflecting off of the waves created a rainbow of oranges and pinks and purples. I couldn't help staring mindlessly at it.

"The waves look like flame." Mighty commented.

A question had been eating away at me for a while, so I decided to ask this member of the detectives. "Do you all think that this is caused by the cat-girl?"

The armadillo didn't appear stunned or worried. In fact, he seemed mildly interested. "Do you?"

"Well, no. I mean, my instincts sometimes yell at me. They're yelling that something else is causing this. But at the same time... what else could it be?"

Mighty nodded. "I'm the only one of the Chaotix that believes that it's something else. I really do believe that she's innocent." He weighed his next words carefully. "There are just a few things in each case that don't add up. One time, I saw her on one side of Emerald Island, and smoke rose on the other side in not even ten seconds after she left my sight. Which means the fire was set right as she disappeared in order for the time difference to make sense."

Silence between the two of us as we made our way back to Ashewood Lane. I said my goodbyes to Mighty, and started to retreat into my new home. Until a faint orange glow in the near-darkness distracted me. Following my screeching intuition yet again, I set out in search of the source.

This new journey took me a street over behind an abandoned house... and face to face with a new figure. It stood up at about the same height as me. Golden eyes flashed with aggression, and teeth were shown in a defensive snarl. A handful of flames were flickering in the ominous nightfall, poised and ready to be thrown at me.

The conclusion hit me like a ton of bricks. This was the arsonist.

_I'm going to die!_


	4. A Flicker of Suspicion

_Huh? What's happening?_

I had been expecting the burning sensation of being hit with the flames, but to my surprise, the figure stepped backwards. It held the flames in such a way as to light up the area around us. I had been waiting to be face-to-face with the arsonist, but it wasn't someone I had been thinking that I would see.

The shape, illuminated by the flickering orange glow, stared back at me with startled eyes. Now that I got a better look at whoever this was, I realized that it was slightly smaller than me, but it's standing up hair made it appear slightly taller than myself. A slight voice trembled at my presence. "What do you want?" Female voice. _Wait, could it be...? _

I cautiously reached into my pocket to grab my iPod. The backlight would help me see the correct colors that wouldn't be diluted by the auburn spark.

As she watched me, her face turned into another scowl. Her eyes narrowed with suspicion at my slow movements.

"Hey, d-don't worry. I won't hurt you." I stuttered. The backlight of my iPod, for some reason turned up to the brightest it would go, flooded the alleyway.

The girl blinked and hissed at the sudden flash. A blur of lavender went past my face as she tried to cover her eyes. My hypothesis was now confirmed.

_Oh, why hello there. I'm totally comfortable being around a suspected arsonist and all that._

"Uhh... hello," I hesitated, thinking over my words carefully. Secretly, I hoped if I said something wrong that I wouldn't get burned. "Flare?"

She opened her eyes slowly to get used to the glare from the light. Since my eyes were now used to the flash, I observed little things to see if Shadow and the gang were right. Well, she obviously had control over fire. If she didn't... that would be one extra-crispy hand.

Her head tilted down and she stared towards the ground.

I smiled. It was a small one, just enough to try and calm her down. And not get cooked. "It's cool to meet you. My name is Silver." My hand reached out for a handshake. The cat looked at it like I was handing her a murder weapon. She paused and sluggishly stretched out as well. As our hands intertwined, I felt my face slightly burn. _The heck...? _

"...Blaze." She murmured. The way she shook my hand was awkward; kind of like she'd never done this before. "You here to turn me in?" Still some distrust. Blaze sat down on the cracked pavement with a sigh. "Go ahead. I won't stop you."

That confused me more than the Chaotix did. "You'd surrender that easily?" When she nodded, I spoke slightly louder. "But I don't think that it's you."

Blaze blinked with shock. "You think that I'm innocent?" A small smile bloomed like a flower on her face. "I thought that everyone here assumed that I'm guilty."

"Nope. There are at least two people here that think that you're not the one to blame."

"Huh. That's two more than I expected." She went quiet for a moment. "Just because I'm Pyrokinetic, everyone pins the crimes to me. But I'm certain that there's something much more sinister going on here."

"And what would that be?" I asked, looking right at her. She continued to talk, but my focus faded into her amber colored eyes. I'll at least admit that. _Come on, Silver! Pull yourself together!_

"...So, who are the two that believe in me?" She asked with genuine curiosity.

For a moment I was lost in my own little world. The question roused me back to reality, although I wanted to dwell in my daydream for a minute longer. "Oh! Ummm, well there's me. And a member of the Chaotix named Mighty."

The cat nodded slowly. "Nice. Hey, do you have the time?"

"It's almost 10:30."

Blaze stood up and stretched. "I have to go. It was really... _nice_ to meet you, Silver."

And with those few words, she was gone. A part of me wanted to call out for her to come back. I wanted to talk for at least another few minutes, but it was getting late. Too late to be walking around a town you know nothing about. Especially with a criminal on the loose.

My mother poked her head into my new room as I was looking around. They unpacked my things for me and I was rearranging my belongings in a more Silver-the-Hedgehog-y way. "Everything going okay?" Her chronically cheerful pitch startled me enough to jump up, hitting my head on the slanted ceiling. "Yeah, everything's cool. But one thing bothers me..."

"And what's that?"

"...My walls are pink."

Mother giggled a little bit. "Right! We're going to fix that tomorrow. Any color preferences?"

Ah, leave it to my mother to ask me a question that needs to be answered here and now. "No, thank you. It doesn't matter to me." Just anything but cobalt.

That night, as I tried to fall asleep, a certain girl's face kept popping into my head. Lit by the firelight, the slight smile, her amber eyes...

I shot up like a rocket. My spines swept across the slanted ceiling and made a sweeping sound. It all made sense. In some strange way, I understood.

_I think I like her... _

**A/N: WOOOO finished! First time in a long time that I finished the chapter within an hour and a half of starting it! I'm not too pleased with how it came out, though. But fun fact: I got the shooting up while trying to fall asleep thing from my own life. Yes. **

**But anyway, please R&R! I'm really tired now! *goes to drink a couple hundred Five-Hour Energy thingies* XD No, not really. Reviews would certainly be appreciated. And I may have another lil' one-shot out soon. GOODNIGHT, ARSONISTS! 8U ~Flighty**


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